PC build thread

[flex wood]

after some Googling... yeah it was a RAM issue. I don't get it, but I swapped in 2GB stick and it installed fine. I'm posting from my new Win7 machine.

Congrats dude!

I'm getting very anxious now that you and Erik just threw your PCs together. I'm holding off until microcenter gets some r9 280x's in stock, I would hate to buy a card online and end up with a DOA card that would set me back time. Hell maybe they'll get some 290s and I'll just get one of those.

[isiolia]

after some Googling... yeah it was a RAM issue. I don't get it, but I swapped in 2GB stick and it installed fine. I'm posting from my new Win7 machine.

Cool. I've run into that a few times (including on one of my own machines). I mean, makes sense, the data it's trying to copy is getting corrupted, but the error messages do make it seem like the installation media or HDD is at fault (I bought another HDD and so on before finally realizing it was memory).

That GPU is leaps and bounds better than what you had, so you should have a fun time once you get stuff installed.

[noiseredux]

yeah just been taking time doing all the driver installs, and getting things setup right.

There's obviously some stuff I'll want to upgrade still - I've got 6GB RAM right now, but I'd like at least 8... ideally 16.

And once I nab another SATA cable, I can install the SSD. Curious - is it easy enough to move the OS from the HDD to the SSD when the time comes?

OH! And I want to thank you guys who have been helping me get this done. Isiolia and s1mple in particular have spent so much time just walking me through things (and supplying me with parts). Having my first build power on and work was honestly one of the more rewarding moments I've had in my geeky life.

EDIT: Ok, another (small) issue. No sound... plugged speakers in, and nothing. Driver is up to date and installed correctly. But no sound. Any ideas there?

[isiolia]

And once I nab another SATA cable, I can install the SSD. Curious - is it easy enough to move the OS from the HDD to the SSD when the time comes?

OH! And I want to thank you guys who have been helping me get this done. Isiolia and s1mple in particular have spent so much time just walking me through things (and supplying me with parts). Having my first build power on and work was honestly one of the more rewarding moments I've had in my geeky life.

Lifehacker has a guide. I haven't tried it personally. Main thing to keep in mind is that you'll need to keep installed data low enough that it'll fit on the SSD.
I've used Clonezilla to move to a larger SSD before (and in general for imaging stuff at work), but that won't go from a larger partition to a smaller one.

Steam is simple to move/copy as well. Once you have an extra SATA cable or three, you could just copy your old installs if you want to save on download time.

Personally, I would be more inclined to just keep things barebones for now. A "test" setup. Then set it up for real when you get the SSD in and all. Rather than worrying about cloning the boot drive after a few days.

Glad you're seeing things coming together though.

[s1mplehumar]

Personally, I would be more inclined to just keep things barebones for now. A "test" setup. Then set it up for real when you get the SSD in and all. Rather than worrying about cloning the boot drive after a few days.

Precisely what I was thinking. Go all in once you have the whole shebang.

[noiseredux]

audio problem solved thx to s1mple...

[ZenErik]

So I just got a 3TB back up drive today and figured... Why not bust open my 2TB drive and put it in to the desktop for media.

So now I've got the Samsung SSD, WD Caviar Blue 1TB for games, and a WD Caviar Green 2TB for media.

I figured the best way was to mount my SSD the wrong way instead of putting in another HDD bracket. The ones for this case take up a lot of precious space I need for all these cables.

[Hazerd]

So I just got a 3TB back up drive today and figured... Why not bust open my 2TB drive and put it in to the desktop for media.

So now I've got the Samsung SSD, WD Caviar Blue 1TB for games, and a WD Caviar Green 2TB for media.

I figured the best way was to mount my SSD the wrong way instead of putting in another HDD bracket. The ones for this case take up a lot of precious space I need for all these cables.

Im jealous, i have a 1TB External backup drive, but its USB 2.0, so want a 3.0 one.

[flex wood]

Here's what I'm thinking about going with for my build, thoughts and input greatly appreciated. Probably going to hit micro center tomorrow and pick up what I can. They have a screw up on their website that I am going to try to get them to honor, it's a combo for the CPU and mobo for $275 which should be $290.

CPU: i5 3570k

Mobo: asrock z77 extreme 4

Ram: 8 gigs 1600, not sure if I should just do one stick or two 4 gig sticks

GPU: either an r9 280x or a 290, if I do the 280 I can get my buddy to upgrade to a 290 and get his 7970 for crossfire but that would force me to upgrade my PSU. I'd rather get a 290 but that involves waiting for better cards than are on the market now.

PSU: 750 watt corsair cx, I'm very open to suggestions here.

Case: corsair 500r (already purchased from newegg, in transit)

CPU cooler: cooler master 212 evo or hyper, can't for the life of me remember the full name but it was brought up earlier in the thread.

[isiolia]

Ram: 8 gigs 1600, not sure if I should just do one stick or two 4 gig sticks

While real-world performance benefits may be debatable, two 4GB sticks would allow for dual channel memory operation, giving you twice the memory bandwidth. So I'd say go with the pair of DIMMs.

CPU cooler: cooler master 212 evo or hyper, can't for the life of me remember the full name but it was brought up earlier in the thread.

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo Solid basic air cooler. For stock speeds or mild/moderate overclocking it's a great bang for the buck. I've got one in my system.